Confession
by Yami no Ryu
Summary: Jack has something to confess. Daniel gets nervous. JD, oneshot


Daniel was in the middle of a good book when Jack approached him. Daniel waited with half his attention for Jack to interrupt him in some manner, but Jack simply stood there, waiting to be acknowledged. Confused by this un-Jack-like behaviour, Daniel looked up. "What is it?"

Jack shifted uneasily, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He bit the inside of his lip nervously, eyes darting around, looking at everything but Daniel. After about five minutes, he cleared his throat and started, "Daniel…"

Daniel raised his eyebrows and encouraged, "Yes?"

"I, um, I have something to…confess," Jack said, swallowing. He glanced at Daniel, who sat up and scooted to the edge of the couch, and then his eyes skittered off to the side.

Daniel was concerned. What could possibly be making Jack so nervous? Daniel had never seen him this unsettled, and the archeologist felt a cold knot of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. "Jack?"

Jack clenched the hem of his shirt, then released it, and clenched it again. He licked his lips, ran a hand through his hair, and said nothing.

Scenarios began to flash through Daniel's imaginative mind. Had Jack turned down one of his requests to go work with another team on an archeological dig? No, he'd done that before, and delivered the news with either glee or apology, depending on his mood, but never nervousness. Perhaps Jack had rearranged an SG-1 mission to coincide with one of those requests, so Daniel would have no choice but to go with SG-1 instead. But again, he had never prefaced those confessions with the kind of emotion he was showing now.

Maybe Jack had invited the team over for a team night—which was frustrating since this Friday was supposed to be all to themselves. If it were that, he might be a little nervous at Daniel's reaction, and somewhat apologetic, but he wouldn't stall like he was now. Maybe he'd scheduled a barbeque without telling Daniel? No—he knew Daniel wouldn't mind too much, as long as Jack had made it pot-luck.

So what could this be about? He looked Jack over: the slight slump of tense shoulders, jittery fingers, the guilty way his eyes flit around the room, rarely landing on something for more than a couple seconds at a time.

Daniel felt his heart rising in his throat. Had one of their friends gotten into trouble off-world? Was Jack going on a mission and Daniel couldn't go along with? Had…had Jack…

Daniel tried to shove the thought away before he fully realized it, but it demanded to be seen: had Jack cheated on him?

"Jack?" he asked again, fighting to keep his voice steady.

"I…" Jack trailed off, then took a deep, calming breath, squared his shoulders, and blurted out, "I ate your cookies!"

Daniel blinked, mind completely blank.

"You what?"

"I ate your cookies," Jack repeated miserably, eyes at his feet. He added unhelpfully, "All of them."

Daniel stared at him. "That's it?"

"What do you mean, 'that's it'?" Jack cried. "I spent two hours working up the courage to tell you!"

Daniel couldn't help it. He felt a laugh bubbling up out of him. He held his breath, biting his lips, but it was no use. He burst into a fit of giggles, so relieved he could barely think.

He could barely make out Jack scowling murderously at him through the tears in his eyes, but every time he thought of Jack's confession, he started howling all over again.

"Daniel," Jack said petulantly. "It's not funny. You're always going on about how expensive and delicious and hard to find those cookies are."

"They're only cookies," Daniel managed through his laughter. "Cookies! God, Jack!"

Jack continued to scowl.

Finally, Daniel managed to control his laughter. "Really, Jack, they're just cookies. I can buy more."

"But they're your favorite," Jack protested.

Daniel smiled at him fondly. "You're such a baby. How about this, if you feel so bad about it: you can buy me some more later. Sound good?"

Jack considered, then nodded slowly. Daniel saw the tension release from his shoulders. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Daniel patted the seat beside him. Jack sat gingerly. The colonel asked, "You're really not mad?"

"I'm really not mad," Daniel said. He couldn't resist adding, "They're only cookies."

Jack grinned sheepishly.


End file.
